The Best of Football Now in 2024

euronews (in English)

Over the year, we brought you some of football’s biggest names and the biggest stories on — and off — the pitch.

Transcript

00:002024 is coming to an end and it's been another busy year for football.

00:04International tournaments galore, exciting young talents bursting onto the scene

00:09and we said fond farewells to football legends.

00:12Let's take a look back at how we covered another monumental year of the sport.

00:21Hello and welcome to Football Now from the Albeit Stadium in Alcor.

00:252024 has once again been incredible for football

00:29and with our last episode of the year, we're taking a look back at some of the best moments.

00:34Let's start right here in Qatar with the AFC Asian Cup which kicked off back in January.

00:39In what turned out to be a dramatic tournament, the Middle Eastern nations went toe-to-toe

00:43with the usual East Asian powerhouses.

00:46Qatar were crowned champions on the pitch

00:48and off it there was an acceptance that Asian football is as strong as ever.

00:52I think the elections are developing and the competition is getting tougher.

00:57We need to put in more effort and work harder

01:02to get the best results and the best performance.

01:07It was a disappointing tournament for India who crashed out at the group stage

01:11and it proved to be the final major competition for their record goalscorer Sunil Chetri.

01:16With 94 goals to his name and 151 appearances,

01:19he finished his career the fourth highest goalscorer on the global stage

01:23behind Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, Ali Dahi of Iran

01:27and of course Lionel Messi of Argentina.

01:30India have one of the most passionate fan bases in world football

01:33so we caught up with Sunil to get his thoughts on how the country can use that foundation

01:38to improve their results in future tournaments.

01:41I think the way I look at it is to keep qualifying for the Asian Cup,

01:44be in the first ten in Asia and keep competing.

01:47A realistic dream is to come in the first ten in Asia and stay there.

01:50I think the whole dream is to tap every talent, identify them at the right age,

01:54give them whatever they need, he or she,

01:56and then whatever we achieve we'll keep our hands up and say this is our best.

02:00As Chetri reaches the end of his career, he may well be thinking about what he wants to do after football.

02:06And as we covered on this show earlier this year,

02:08there are now more options for players post-retirement than ever before.

02:12At the Web Summit Qatar, the first tech event of its kind in the Middle East,

02:16we caught up with former Premier League midfielders Gilberto Silva and Mikel Jonobi.

02:21Silva explained how important it is for footballers to prepare for life after football while they are still playing.

02:27In the beginning when you have to do the transition from football to do some other things,

02:32sometimes it's not so easy.

02:34Life can be difficult because you spend most part of your life playing football

02:40and from one day to another everything disappears.

02:44And then you have to put your feet on the ground and start to think I need to find another way.

02:50What's good for me is just to bring my mentality as in sports to support the business

02:57because starting a new business is tough as a sport.

03:01Meanwhile, Mikel has taken a very different path since he hung up his boots,

03:05hosting his weekly podcast The Obi Wan.

03:08I love it, I love it.

03:09And it's also, I'm still, it's the closest that I am still to playing football.

03:14You know, I talk about it, I interact with the fans and that's something I never used to do while I was playing.

03:18But right now I have this platform whereby, you know, I interact with the Chelsea fans,

03:21I interact with a lot of fans all across the world and they're involved.

03:25I feel like they're involved in what I'm doing, my next chapter in life.

03:29And that's something I never used to do while playing.

03:31And it's so nice to see that the fans want to go with me to this journey, to this new journey.

03:35And like I said, I want to test myself, I want to make sure I break boundaries.

03:39There's limitless opportunity in the podcast industry and I want to take advantage of that.

03:44Playing football, I want everything, I want to make sure I do the same in my new chapter.

03:49The world of business and investing is also something that fascinates modern day footballers.

03:54It's a passion of Al-Ali SC winger Julian Draxler,

03:57who uses it to his advantage in regards to his career on the pitch too,

04:01when negotiating for transfers and new contracts.

04:04I mean, I started really early.

04:06My career was 16, 17 years old and, you know, you go to training every day,

04:11you see the locker room every day, you see the pitch every day.

04:13And one day I was like, I have to try something new.

04:16Also, you know, to occupy my head a little bit, to learn new things.

04:20Every step you take, you're going to learn more and more.

04:22And obviously a lot of players, they have agents.

04:25So you are not there all the time, but you meet very interesting people,

04:29different kinds of sporting directors, presidents of the clubs.

04:32And of course you have good conversations with them as well.

04:35So you take one part from everyone to learn for yourself.

04:39Now, did you know that Qatar's Aspartar Hospital

04:42is one of the world's most renowned sports rehabilitation centres?

04:46This year, we've spoken to their dietitians, medical teams and chefs

04:50to try and truly understand how much effort goes into looking after

04:53the overall wellbeing of a footballer.

04:55And Italian midfielder Marco Verratti told us why his diet off the pitch

05:00is crucial to how he plays on it.

05:30It's been another exciting year in the world of football.

05:52And we've had all angles covered here on Football Now in 2024.

05:56That's all we've got time for from the Al Bait Stadium in Qatar.

05:59We'll see you in 2025. Bye for now.

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